On Saturday, June 14th, under the expert eyes of Charlie Pilzer, I completed mastering of Jamboree at Airshow Mastering in Springfield, VA. Mastering is the final step in making a CD – it’s the process of combining the individual stereo mixes of each piece into a final album (the master) that everything else is produced from. Tracks are put in the correct sequence, the volumes of each track are adjusted to be of similar loudness relative to each other, and a little compression and limiting is usually added. It sounds pretty simple, but It’s a very subtle art, and can often make or break a recording. Fortunately for me, Charlie’s really good at it (he won a Grammy for mastering the Anthology of American Folk Music set released in 1997).
So now that Jamboree is (finally) done, I’m proud to present a taste of the fruits of my labor. Here, from conception to realization, is the story of ‘The English Teacher’:
Part 1 – The Demo
I recorded the demo in September of 2007 in my bedroom on Logic Express using a Chameleon Labs TS-2 on vocals and a AEA R92 on guitar.
Part 2 – The Rehearsal
This recording is from the first rehearsal with Dan, Jason, and Shareef, in late January 2008. My goal with rehearsal recordings is to capture the bare minimum needed to recreate a performance, as opposed to a pristine document of tonal nuance . The acoustic guitar is gone, and Dan found a nice organ tone that really complemented the song. Things are starting to take shape.
Part 3 – The Mixed Tracks
In the session we laid down electric guitar, bass, and drums live. We came back the next day and overlaid acoustic guitar, Dan’s lovely B3 part, and the piano/celeste coda that ties it all together. I recorded four different versions of the vocals, and during the mixdown process took the best version of each line (in recording parlance, this is called a ‘comp’ track). While we were making the final mix I recorded the whistle.
Part 4 – The Final Mastered Track
The final version is just a touch brighter than the mixed tracks. Charlie uses multiple compressors and limiters set verylightly to create a subtly enhanced hybrid. But we had to be careful – too much compression and a song starts sounding like modern country. We tried hard during the mastering process to keep a lot of dynamic range in the final cuts.
So there you have it – I’m very pleased with the result, and looking forward to sharing the rest soon. Until then!
